Just a quick update

Well, it's been a few days (weeks) since I've told y'all what's going on these days...

Let's start with a little bit of counting down:
* 65 days until we ride!
* 61 days until I fly to California
* 42 days of work
* 1,059 training kilometers to ride before we leave

The weather is slowly improving in cow-town, so with a little luck I'll be able to keep riding outside a bunch in the next week. After it snows and melts again this weekend, mind you. Got out twice this week: a frigid 0C ride on Wednesday and a balmy 8C ride with Luke on Thursday. I'm hoping to start riding with some other folks when the weather is predictable enough to plan more than 2 hours ahead. Keep checking back here and watch your Facebook feed for dates & times to join me.

I found a group of cyclists that do "Wheeler's Ride" every Saturday morning when the weather's good. Tomorrow looks like trash, but I the next time the forecast is in the positive, I'll probably make an effort to join them. Sounds a little competitive, but also like a good deal of fun.

The new bike showed up on Monday! I only took it for a quick spin, and need to get it fitted and switch my cleats over for the new style of pedals. All in good time.


In the meantime, I've given up on that horrible Brooks saddle. (Drop me an email if you're interested in picking up a relatively new Brooks B-15 Swallow.) Speed Theory, a local cycling shop, has a demo saddle program where you can try any of the saddles they stock for a week for no charge. I'm working on my second fi'zi:k saddle of the week, and I kind of like this one:


Fundraising has somewhat plateaued, and the cheque from the Kelowna CRC hasn't been logged on my donation page just yet. Which makes me even more excited that donations have surpassed the $10,000 mark, and there's another $1,100 in the mail! There is always more room to give, and I'm still hoping for six more people to sponsor me through the final six days of the ride as we go from Montreal to New York. You can use this link if you would like to encourage me through the final week of the tour.

On the home front, the new rental house is in our possession, and I'm slowly moving stuff in. Next Saturday will be the big moving day, so expect to hear notice about a house-warming party shortly thereafter!





Well, that's all I've got for now... off to go enjoy my Friday evening with some friends.

New Bike!

Last week, I decided my 10-year old Colnago was not the ideal bike to take across the country due to it's ageing drivetrain, aggressive geometry and unforgiving aluminum frame. After a bit of shopping around, I concluded the Van Nicholas Euros was the bike for me, and ordered it from Jesse at Adrenaline Bikes, in Orange County, CA.

This bike is a 58cm Titanium beast, weighing in at 18lbs 15oz (8.6kg). It's got full Ultegra componentry, C-4 custom wheels, FSA Energy Ergo bars, and Look Keo 2 Max pedals. I think it looks great! Plus it is designed for "all day riding" and can accomodate bigger (read: plusher) tires up to 700x28.

More pics of the finished product just got posted here. The fork will be swapped for one I've got in the basement, and I'll probably change out the seat, post & collar with parts from home as well.

With a little luck, it'll be on my door step by the middle of next week. I'm a happy camper!